Where have all the workers gone? In my town there are signs everywhere saying, Help Wanted. Chic-fil-A is offering $19/hr for full timers. Construction has ground to fits and starts as people can get workers only unreliably and unpredictably. Restaurants are open only 4 days a week. What are people doing if not working? With high p…
Where have all the workers gone? In my town there are signs everywhere saying, Help Wanted. Chic-fil-A is offering $19/hr for full timers. Construction has ground to fits and starts as people can get workers only unreliably and unpredictably. Restaurants are open only 4 days a week. What are people doing if not working? With high prices for everything you would think everyone would be working a lot, even a second job.
NC my friends and I have this conversation all the time. Where is everyone?! I'm not sure but maybe going deeply into debt? Everyone must have a $$ data plan to spend 16 hours a day on social media right? Have you noticed that pretty much every online purchase you make now, even for a $25 shirt has a 3rd party "payment plan" option? And I am now seeing commercials where one character asks if the other is going to so and so's wedding in ________. "No I can't afford it." answers the other. Then the announcer reveals that you can get a loan to do anything you want. (can't help thinking of loan sharks here) and then the previously wise character that admitted she can't afford it says she's gonna take that loan and triumphantly declares "I'm outta here!" It is the absolute height of irresponsible behavior that wouldn't have been available to past generations but here we are. I wonder what the national credit card debt looks like collectively .
The "payment plan" thing is because millennials and Get Z aren't using credit cards the way older people do. So, marketers have brought in the "pay over time" option which is basically the same as a credit card except there is usually no interest added which, to me at least, is slightly better.
It must be no interest for a couple months and then get smacked with a crazy high interest rate. Otherwise these companies are performing a charity that they also spend $$ marketing.
I have a credit card that offers 3% back on purchases at Amazon OR the ability to split any purchase into multiple payments "interest free." If I choose the latter, the bank keeps the 3% I would otherwise have gotten. That still beats 18% a month that some cards charge.
Jesus Christ. I just saw something on CNBC about the popularity of BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) services with Millennials and Zoomers. Makes me wonder if we're in for a nasty 2008 shock all over again.
Same here in Montana, job vacancies everywhere. Construction workers in high demand but contractors are busy or unavailable. Massive delays and backlogs either from supplies or workers unavailable. I have no idea how people can survive inflation prices without working.
Pumping all that money into the economy when there was a labor shortage inflated wages. In turn that inflated prices and now we're in a nightmare scenario where only a serious recession can affect price growth.
That's what I wonder, too. At first, I thought it was the rent moratorium--people who don't have to pay rent can get away with working less. But even now, people don't seem to want to work, despite the fact that wages have increased radically, even in this economically depressed corner of our state.
I fear that more people realized, during the pandemic, that they can get by just as well on welfare.
Celia...we do not hear much, these days, but the Gov of Penn. is trying to get together a $2000.00 payment for those under the $80,0000/yr income level. This $2000, comes from a Fed. Bill and must be paid before 2024(?). Likely other States do the same. How much more?
Many, i believe, are starting their own business and many are going under the table...
Many people may still be living off savings from the pandemic 'relief' money. They may have also rearranged their life at lower costs, ie moving away from cities, refinancing houses, etc. So, there is some buffer here, and that's part of why inflation has be so stubborn. Learning to game the safety net systems could be part of this too. The era of low interest rates has also taught people to be comfortable with large amounts of debt. Need some cash? Refi your house and pay off those credit cards! The proliferation of "buy now, pay later" (which every time I see this on things like $2000 dryer, I cringe thinking about how people are essentially tricked into buying stuff they just can't afford), etc. This era is over, for now, but it may take time for people adjust as they need to figure out servicing this debt is actually hurting them.
The work from home culture also has its downsides as people are experiencing burn out. People feel unseen at work, both literally and figuratively. Bosses dump things on people they have hardly, if ever, met face to face. Yes, those people get to work from home, but if you put in long hours and don't feel recognized for the work, how much does that really matter? Worker loyalty has collapsed.
A big part of the problem in some fields is that the worker training process was disrupted. Airline pilots is an obvious one, but other things such as some trades or things like life guards, that need certification are experiencing shortages because for 1-2 years, there was no, or very little, certification process going on and many of those jobs were shut down for part of that time. People that might have done that work moved on to other things.
So, I'm not completely sure that the problem is as simple as people don't want to work. I think a big part of this is simply that there is a disconnect between the jobs that need to be filled and what workers are willing AND capable of doing.
Large employers let huge numbers of people go during COVID. For example, the airlines laid off thousands of people and now are short-staffed.
You may be onto something with the "life rearranging" due to COVID. We certainly rearranged our lives. We sold our house in a large city for a ridiculous amount of money and bought one for 1/3 the price in a smaller town which gave us a nice financial cushion but I kept working because I LOVE my job. Many others in the same boat probably have enough money to not work for several years if they did the same thing we did.
Where have all the workers gone? In my town there are signs everywhere saying, Help Wanted. Chic-fil-A is offering $19/hr for full timers. Construction has ground to fits and starts as people can get workers only unreliably and unpredictably. Restaurants are open only 4 days a week. What are people doing if not working? With high prices for everything you would think everyone would be working a lot, even a second job.
NC my friends and I have this conversation all the time. Where is everyone?! I'm not sure but maybe going deeply into debt? Everyone must have a $$ data plan to spend 16 hours a day on social media right? Have you noticed that pretty much every online purchase you make now, even for a $25 shirt has a 3rd party "payment plan" option? And I am now seeing commercials where one character asks if the other is going to so and so's wedding in ________. "No I can't afford it." answers the other. Then the announcer reveals that you can get a loan to do anything you want. (can't help thinking of loan sharks here) and then the previously wise character that admitted she can't afford it says she's gonna take that loan and triumphantly declares "I'm outta here!" It is the absolute height of irresponsible behavior that wouldn't have been available to past generations but here we are. I wonder what the national credit card debt looks like collectively .
The "payment plan" thing is because millennials and Get Z aren't using credit cards the way older people do. So, marketers have brought in the "pay over time" option which is basically the same as a credit card except there is usually no interest added which, to me at least, is slightly better.
It must be no interest for a couple months and then get smacked with a crazy high interest rate. Otherwise these companies are performing a charity that they also spend $$ marketing.
I have a credit card that offers 3% back on purchases at Amazon OR the ability to split any purchase into multiple payments "interest free." If I choose the latter, the bank keeps the 3% I would otherwise have gotten. That still beats 18% a month that some cards charge.
Jesus Christ. I just saw something on CNBC about the popularity of BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) services with Millennials and Zoomers. Makes me wonder if we're in for a nasty 2008 shock all over again.
Just came across this article. Thought I'd drop it here if anyone is interested. It's about BPNL stuff being added to credit reports.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/consumers-concerned-about-bnpl-included-in-credit-reports?dicbo=v1-3b00e7438c08e61937635b2cef0a4d9d-00e17b74303517cbe6bf08cea931e9f870-heztanjrmzrdkllfg4ydmljugvsgcllcmu3tcllggq2dkmztgu4tqmtcg4
I'm thinking more of a 1929 shock.
I really wonder!
Same here in Montana, job vacancies everywhere. Construction workers in high demand but contractors are busy or unavailable. Massive delays and backlogs either from supplies or workers unavailable. I have no idea how people can survive inflation prices without working.
Labor force participation. It's a full point lower than before the pandemic.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART
Pumping all that money into the economy when there was a labor shortage inflated wages. In turn that inflated prices and now we're in a nightmare scenario where only a serious recession can affect price growth.
It’s the old addition by subtraction gag
That's what I wonder, too. At first, I thought it was the rent moratorium--people who don't have to pay rent can get away with working less. But even now, people don't seem to want to work, despite the fact that wages have increased radically, even in this economically depressed corner of our state.
I fear that more people realized, during the pandemic, that they can get by just as well on welfare.
The media has been glorifying people quitting and not working with the talks of the "Great Resignation".
Celia...we do not hear much, these days, but the Gov of Penn. is trying to get together a $2000.00 payment for those under the $80,0000/yr income level. This $2000, comes from a Fed. Bill and must be paid before 2024(?). Likely other States do the same. How much more?
Many, i believe, are starting their own business and many are going under the table...
Many people may still be living off savings from the pandemic 'relief' money. They may have also rearranged their life at lower costs, ie moving away from cities, refinancing houses, etc. So, there is some buffer here, and that's part of why inflation has be so stubborn. Learning to game the safety net systems could be part of this too. The era of low interest rates has also taught people to be comfortable with large amounts of debt. Need some cash? Refi your house and pay off those credit cards! The proliferation of "buy now, pay later" (which every time I see this on things like $2000 dryer, I cringe thinking about how people are essentially tricked into buying stuff they just can't afford), etc. This era is over, for now, but it may take time for people adjust as they need to figure out servicing this debt is actually hurting them.
The work from home culture also has its downsides as people are experiencing burn out. People feel unseen at work, both literally and figuratively. Bosses dump things on people they have hardly, if ever, met face to face. Yes, those people get to work from home, but if you put in long hours and don't feel recognized for the work, how much does that really matter? Worker loyalty has collapsed.
A big part of the problem in some fields is that the worker training process was disrupted. Airline pilots is an obvious one, but other things such as some trades or things like life guards, that need certification are experiencing shortages because for 1-2 years, there was no, or very little, certification process going on and many of those jobs were shut down for part of that time. People that might have done that work moved on to other things.
So, I'm not completely sure that the problem is as simple as people don't want to work. I think a big part of this is simply that there is a disconnect between the jobs that need to be filled and what workers are willing AND capable of doing.
Large employers let huge numbers of people go during COVID. For example, the airlines laid off thousands of people and now are short-staffed.
You may be onto something with the "life rearranging" due to COVID. We certainly rearranged our lives. We sold our house in a large city for a ridiculous amount of money and bought one for 1/3 the price in a smaller town which gave us a nice financial cushion but I kept working because I LOVE my job. Many others in the same boat probably have enough money to not work for several years if they did the same thing we did.
There is an anti-work movement afoot. Really.
Time to make work before welfare required again. Obama got rid of that